“Well she’s a mighty fine ship to my boy.” The man whom the unnamed bay was named after said as the Good Captain and he sat on hill over looking the bay.

The process of purchasing a few ships had already taken the Good Captain over an hour, nearly twenty four of them if the hours spent drinking and celebrating were to be included, but he knew the process and knew there was no short cutting such a process.

With the hour only just past the mid point of the day the Good Captain knew that in the large hall his crew would be surfacing from their wild night that did not see them fall asleep until sunrise. He also knew that they would not interrupt his dealings to buy the ships of his choice.

“She looks like a mighty fine ship too!” The Good Captain said.

“You have an eye for the unique, my good man, for she like your other choice is a one of a kind ship.”

The Good Pirate looked directly at the ship as the man spoke. From what his eyes were telling him the ship was a Spanish Galleon, a strong ship used for both battle and to transport large quantities of treasure. There was a few visual differences with the railing being of a more modern English design and bow decks housing more cannons but the Good Captain didn’t assume that such cosmetic differences made for a different ship. Truth be told he was buying it for one reason and one reason alone, the fact that it was a Spanish Galleon and he knew that in the future he had good purpose for a Spanish built ship.

“As you no doubt are aware,” the man whom the unnamed bay was named after started, “she is a replica of a Spanish Galleon. Those of her original design were indeed made in Spain as an answer to the British Man-O-Wars. The two main difference between the British design and the Spanish design was the length and the layout. The Spaniards made their ships narrower and longer, even longer than the modified Man-O-War you have selected. They also dropped the height of the forecastle.”

Being a man of the sea the Good Captain knew the forecastle was the original name for deck of the ship over the bow, it could extend any length back to the middle of the ships but it was predominantly over the bow. The name forecastle had over the years been shortened to fo’c’sle. There was often a forecastle and an aftcastle, on some ships, like the Revenge, the aftcastle could be called the navigational deck, but it could just as easily be called whatever the captain wanted it to be called. Forecastles we designed to give Galleons, especially, better stability at the bow in rough water and provide less wind resistance across the bow which lead to a faster more manoeuvrable ship. But most of this didn’t mean as much to the Good Captain as the fact that the ship was a Spanish Galleon.

“This ship,” the man whom the unnamed bay was name after started again, “was designed to look like a Spanish Galleon from a distance. She was designed by a man who knew more about the Spanish design than any other, but he was a corrupt man and a man who was more than happy to sell his design to the highest bidder no matter who he’d sold it to prior.

He was also happy to alter his design for a fee. Reportedly he was paid twelve times the amount he was paid for the first design, which in itself was a pretty sum, for the design you see before you. His allegiance to the Spanish navy was bought and sold for a price few could match.

When he designed this ship he not only lengthened the hull from its already longer than average specifications he redesigned the entire substructure, strengthened the frame, strengthened the keel and used thicker timbers on the hull to make her stronger in rough seas and stronger in battle.

Despite the size of weight of the ship she is good for thirteen knots in ideal conditions and her heavy construction and design makes her more than capable of carting two thousand tonnes, a feat only heard of in a select few ships that sail the oceans today.”

Two thousand tonnes made the ship ideal for the plan that The Good Captain had in mind. The stronger hull and design would also come in very handy but the biggest reason for the purchase was still the close resemblance to the original.

The man whom the unnamed bay was named after continued. “Ironically the man who sold his allegiance for such a large sum, a sum that saw his need to flee his country once word got out, never actually had the chance to benefit from his large windfall.

The legends tells us that this man was caught off the shores of Sierra Leone barely a month after he fled, he was attacked, sunk, looted for his wealth and killed. The loot was never found but the reports stated that attacks were carried out by a Spanish Galleon, not flying the flag of the Spanish Navy but flying the flag of the skull and cross bones.”

The Good Captain knew the story of his second ship was over at that point and he knew that asking further questions would be pointless because the man the unnamed bay was named after would not answer them. He also knew that the story didn’t matter it was the ship that mattered.

“So the deal is done?” The man whom the unnamed bay was named after said.

“Aye. Th’ deal be done, three ships, th’ two ye ‘ave jus’ spoken about ‘n that one thar,” the Good Captain pointed at the third ship, “which looks like she holds as many tales as th’ previous two.”

Although the man whom the unnamed bay was named after hadn’t refused the story of the third ship, he’d made it fairly clear at the onset of the stories that he wasn’t going to talk about it. The Good Captain knew he didn’t make the rules of trade, knew that he was a guest of the man whom the unnamed bay was named after and knew that he only got what that man was willing to share so his prompt wasn’t forceful but he couldn’t let it go without trying.